A Weekend Away
by melody's muse
Summary: Derek and Meredith just want to get away from it all.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This fanfic was in a way inspired by my previous fanfic (which if you haven't read, I hope you do!). I thought maybe I could expand on the fishing and take it to the next level...camping. I'm not sure how long this story will be, probably just a few chapters. It is, after all, only a weekend long. Hope you enjoy it, and please review...I love reviews! Thanks :)**

_Friday AM_

"Ahh, this is going to be great," Derek said with a smile as he put on his turn signal and merged into the exit lane. "No phones."

"No pagers."

"None of your roommates."

"No Bailey. No rounds."

"Absolutely no interruptions. Just you and me." Derek looked over at Meredith and smiled.

It had been Derek's idea to go. It seemed like lately, they could never get a moment alone. A weekend away was exactly what they needed.

"So how far is this campground anyway? Are we almost there?" Meredith asked as she pulled a map out of the glove compartment.

"We've got about two hours, but we can probably make it in an hour and a half if the traffic stays the way it is."

"This was such a good idea. Getting away."

"I'm glad you wanted to go. I wasn't sure if you'd be up for camping or not, you know with the bugs and the tent and the peeing in the woods and all. My sisters hate it."

Meredith laughed. "No I love camping."

Derek smiled. "That must be why I love you so much. You're nothing like my sisters."

"Um, Derek?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure this is the right exit?"

"Yes, of course."

"Not according to the map."

"It's a shortcut."

Meredith glared at him. "A shortcut?"

"Yeah. It'll shave a half hour off our drive time. It seems out of the way but we'll avoid the city traffic."

"Do you know this shortcut well? Have you taken it before?"

"Well no, but Joe told me about it. He gave me directions." Derek smiled at her. "Don't worry, we'll get there."

Meredith looked at the map again. She wasn't so sure about that.

_40 minutes later..._

"We're lost."

"We're not lost!" Derek insisted.

"Derek, we're clearly lost. I told you not to take that shortcut." _He's a freakin' brain surgeon!_ Meredith thought to herself.

"We got a little turned around, yes, but we're not lost. I know how to get back to the highway."

Meredith sighed. "Pull over to that gas station and ask for directions."

"We're not pulling over for directions because we're not lost. Trust me, I know where we're going."

"Well pull over anyway. I've got to pee."

Derek gave her a look.

"What? I do!"

"Fine." Derek slowed the car down and turned into the gas station. He parked in front of the convenient store.

"I'll only be a minute," Meredith said, hopping out of the car and closing the door behind her.

Derek watched as she made her way inside, walking quickly towards the back of the store. Once she was out of sight, he grabbed the map. It was so much easier to concentrate on where they were going without her constant nagging.

A few minutes later, he saw Meredith heading towards the front of the store, but instead of walking out the door, she walked up to the man at the register and started talking to him.

"What is she doing?" Derek said to himself as he watched her gesture towards the road. "I don't believe this." Derek shook his head.

After talking to him for a few moments, Meredith walked out the store and got back in the car.

"You didn't need to ask for directions, Meredith. I told you. We're not lost."

"Go up this road for about two miles, turn right, and the exit we need is about a half mile after that."

"I know. That's where I was going."

"Sure," Meredith said, doubting him.

xoxox

They hadn't been back on the road for very long when suddenly, a strange noise was heard and felt.

"What was that?" Meredith asked.

"That didn't sound good." Derek slowed the car down, pulling over to the shoulder. Once parked, he got out to survey the damage.

"What is it? Did we hit something?"

"It's a flat tire."

"You're kidding! That's great."

"No, it's okay. I've got a spare, don't worry. It'll only take me a few minutes to fix it."

Meredith sighed, looking at her watch. They were way behind schedule, first with them getting lost, and now with a flat tire. At this rate, she wondered if they were ever going to get to the campground. All she wanted was some time alone with Derek with no crazy emergencies and a little peace and quiet…was that so wrong?

Meredith got out of the car and walked around to the other side, trying to take her mind off of the delay. She watched Derek for a while as he started on fixing the flat. She smiled. Yeah, so he had gotten them lost, but so what? They would get there soon enough. He was going to make sure of that.

"So I'm sorry," she apologized.

"For what?"

"For whining. And complaining. You know…about us getting lost. Oh, okay so we weren't lost, but 'turned around'. But anyway, I'm sorry I complained so much. I guess I'm just so anxious for us to finally get away, you know? Seems like it's been forever since we've had a moment all to ourselves."

Derek smiled at her. He knew the feeling. "Well in that case, I'm sorry too."

"What are you sorry for?"

"I should have had this tire checked before we left. I knew we would be on the road for a long time. I just didn't get around to it."

"It's okay. As long as you can fix it. So how long is this going to take?"

"Not long. I promise."

Meredith smiled. "Good."

xoxoxox

"Good as new," Derek announced, getting back into the car. "Now let's hope we don't get another flat…"

"Shhh!" Meredith hissed. "Don't say it out loud. You'll jinx it. And we're getting our weekend away, damn it. We work 80 hours a week. We deserve it!"

Derek laughed. He loved it when Meredith got all worked up. "Is that peanut butter I smell?"

"Yeah." Meredith held up a sandwich.

"Where'd you get that?"

"Izzie. She made sandwiches and packed some snacks for us. You want one?"

"Yeah. I am getting pretty hungry, and that does look good."

Meredith took out a sandwich and handed it to Derek.

Derek took a bite. "Izzie makes a good sandwich. I hadn't realized it was already lunch time."

"Yeah. Izzie thinks of everything."

"Shall we hit the road?"

"Yes!" Meredith said happily.

Derek started the car back up and they were on their way.

to be continued...

A/N: I know it's short, but this is just the start! I've got some good stuff coming up so stayed tuned ;-)


	2. Chapter 2

"This looks like a good place to set up camp," Derek announced as they came upon a clearing by the water.

Meredith looked over at the lake and the mountains in the distance, amazed by its beauty. Save for a few birds, it was completely quiet out here. "It's so beautiful. It was worth the hike."

"It wasn't that far."

Meredith took a water bottle from out of the cooler she had been dragging on the walk to the campground. She took a seat on the cooler as she took a sip. "Well it was a hike for me. Is this where you and the guys camped before?"

"No, it's not. This place is a little more secluded."

Meredith grinned. "Good."

"Well look, why don't you stay here, get settled. I'll go run back to the car and get the rest of our stuff." He leaned down, giving her cheek a quick peck.

"Okay," Meredith said, watching as he walked back down the path.

After a quick breather, Meredith took a look around, wondering what she could do to get things started.

The tent was probably a good place to start. She scoped out a good place to put it and began taking the tent out of the bag. "Well this can't be that hard," she said to herself.

xoxo

Derek trudged back to the campsite, loaded down with the rest of their gear. When he saw her, he couldn't help watch her with an amused smile on his face. Meredith was attempting to put up the tent, and failing pretty miserably as the whole thing collapsed before her.

"Do you need a hand?" he finally asked.

Meredith looked over at Derek, a look of exasperation on her face. "Is it that obvious?"

"Little bit."

"I'm a surgeon! I'm a doctor. We're generally pretty smart people, and yet, I can't put this damn thing together! I even have instructions!" Meredith pulled out the paper that demonstrated how to put up the tent. "But apparently, you have to have tent pitching skills to understand what the hell it's saying!"

Derek laughed. "Don't blame yourself too much. This thing is a pain in the ass."

Derek took over, not even needing the instructions.

"You make this look so easy."

"Just practice. And that I've put this thing up about a hundred times."

"I'll get the sleeping bags. I know that's something I know how to do."

Derek laughed.

Meredith took the two sleeping bags and crawled into the tent with them. She carefully unrolled them both, laying them side by side to make one big sleeping bag.

"For a sleeping bag, these aren't so bad," Meredith said. "Actually look pretty cozy. I could take a nap right now."

Meredith waited for Derek's response. When he didn't say anything, she figured Derek hadn't heard her. "Derek?"

Suddenly, she felt herself being grabbed from behind, making her scream loudly.

Derek just laughed, pinning Meredith beneath him.

"Derek, you scared me."

"I scared you? What, did you think I was some kind of animal?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe I am an animal." Derek growled as he took a nibble out of her ear lobe.

Meredith squealed in laughter as Derek kissed the spot on her neck where she was ticklish.

"I'm so glad I finally have you alone," he whispered.

She gazed into his eyes. "Yeah, me too. Why do think you I wanted to go ahead and set up the tent?"

Derek kissed her, soft at first, then hungrily as his body soon ached for her. It was hard for them to be together sometimes. Pagers would beep at inopportune moments. Long hours at the hospital would keep them apart. Roommates were always around.

Now it was just them.

His hands roamed down to the hem of her shirt and wrapped around her tiny waist. Underneath her shirt, her skin was warm, and Derek longed to have that warm skin against his.

"Meredith?" he whispered. He looked down at her, seeing her eyes closed and a smile on her face. "Mer?"

Meredith didn't respond.

Derek frowned. "Meredith?"

But Meredith didn't hear him at all. She was fast asleep.

"Damn it," Derek muttered.

xoxo

Meredith opened her eyes, confused by why her room looked so strange until she remembered that she was not in her room, but a tent, and her bed was a sleeping bag.

Meredith sat up and yawned. Where was Derek? And how long has she been sleeping anyway? She reached over for the tent's opening and unzipped it.

Derek wasn't too far. He sat in the mesh chair he'd brought from home. He was drinking a beer and listening to the radio. His grill was beside him, so he was probably cooking trout. That was so like Derek.

Meredith got her bearings and stood up, stretching a little as she made her way over to where Derek sat.

"Hey."

Derek turned around and smiled. "She finally awakes."

"How long have I been asleep?"

"A few hours."

Meredith's eyes grew wide. "_Hours_? Oh my god, what time is it?" Meredith glanced down at her watch.

"About time for dinner."

"Why'd you let me sleep for so long?" Meredith complained, lightly hitting him on the shoulder as she sat in the chair beside him.

"You were exhausted. Besides, I figured you should probably rest up. I don't know about you but I wasn't planning on us getting much sleep tonight."

Meredith laughed. "Yeah. I guess I was pretty tired. I don't even remember falling asleep."

"Hungry?"

"Starving."

"Caught some trout while you were asleep."

"Oh is that what I was smelling?"

"It should be ready soon. You should eat up too. I have a feeling we might work up an appetite." Derek gave her a wink.

"Derek?"

"Yeah?"

"What the hell is that?" Meredith was looking up at two bags tied to a rope hanging from a tree branch.

"Oh. That's a bear bag."

"Bear bag?"

"Yeah. I tied up the rest of our food. You know, so the bears won't get to it."

"Are there really that many bears around here?"

"Oh yeah. But we don't have to worry about them hanging around here."

"Because we've got our food hanging from a tree?"

"Exactly." Derek was very proud of getting that bag in the tree all by himself.

"Well what about all of the animals that live in the trees? They can still get to the food. What about squirrels? Those squirrels are pretty smart."

Derek frowned. "Would you rather have a bear or a squirrel after your food?"

Meredith smiled. She decided to drop it. She didn't want to have a petty argument on their only weekend alone together. "It's a great bear bag, Derek."

"Thank you."

xoxox

After they ate, Meredith wandered off into the woods. _Nature calling_, she had said to Derek playfully.

And then she had to endure about a five minute lecture on staying away from anything with three leaves on it. Poison oak, poison ivy, poison sumac, but _especially _poison oak. After assuring him for the hundredth time that she knew what poison oak looked like, he let her go. Meredith quietly wondered what the hell that had been all about. Bears? No problem! Just tie your food up in a bag and hang it from a tree. But you better watch out for those plants with three leaves on it. They were trouble.

As Meredith came back to the campsite, she heard a strange sound. She followed the noise and found Derek with an axe, apparently chopping some firewood. He must have been at it for a while since he had removed his shirt, already sweaty.

"So you really are a wood-chopping fisherman, huh?"

Derek turned around at the sound of her voice.

"Oh don't stop." Meredith grinned widely. "Carry on. I like watching you work hard." Meredith grabbed a beer from out of the cooler and took a seat.

"Thought we could start a fire later."

"I think you already are, Dr. Shepherd."

Derek smiled at her, then went about chopping the rest of the wood. But Meredith kept staring at him, and after a while, it got to be distracting. Finally, he stopped and turned around. "What?"

"I didn't say anything."

"You just keep watching me. What is it?"

"You are so turning me on right now."

"Really?" Derek asked with a grin.

"Uh huh."

"Huh. Well maybe I should do this more often."

"Yes. I think you should."

After a little while, Meredith suddenly got up from her chair.

"Where are you going? I thought I was turning you on."

She laughed. "You are. And actually, I'm getting pretty hot. A little sweaty. I think I'll take a dip in the lake. You look like you're working up a sweat too. Maybe you should join me."

"No, that's okay. Maybe later. You go ahead." Derek continued with his wood-chopping.

"Are you sure about that, Dr. Shepherd?" Meredith said in a husky voice. "I can't interest you in taking a swim with me?"

_That_ caught Derek's attention.

Meredith gave him a playful grin as she pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it to the ground.

"Meredith? What are you doing?"

"Going for a swim. What does it look like I'm doing?" Meredith took off her shoes and socks, tossing them on the ground as well.

"Meredith…are you…"

"You should really come join me," she said as she unzipped her jeans and slid her pants down.

Derek laughed. "Meredith, you do realize that this is a public park?"

"Well I don't see anyone, do you? And isn't that half the fun anyway? The thrill of almost getting caught? Kind of like when we do it in the on-call room with the door unlocked."

_Who was this woman?_ Derek wondered to himself. Where was this wild side of Meredith coming from? It was getting harder to resist. His body was screaming for her.

"You coming?" Meredith asked one more time, unhooking her bra and tossing it at him with a grin. "Come on and get naked, McDreamy."

Meredith walked across the dock, gave Derek one more look as she slid out of her panties, tossed them aside, and jumped into the lake.

How could he say no to that? Derek ran towards the dock, tossing his boots, tossing his socks, and finally everything else onto the ground just seconds before jumping into the lake to join Meredith.

Meredith laughed out loud, her hair already soaking wet. She didn't know what had possessed her to jump into the lake completely naked, but she figured if there was anyone she wanted to go skinny-dipping with, it was Derek.

Derek swam over to Meredith and pulled her close to him, kissing her hard at first, then tenderly as he felt the warmness of her skin against his.

"You didn't tell me the water was this cold."

"Good thing we're naked. Body heat is an excellent way of keeping warm."

"This is true," Derek said, holding her close and kissing her again as Meredith giggled once more.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I took the day off from work, and I should be getting my car inspected this morning, but instead, I decided to work on fanfic LOL. Enjoy:) Oh, and congrats on Greys for winning the SAG award! YAY:)**

"Warming up?" Derek asked Meredith as he sat down beside her on the blanket in front of the warm, roaring campfire.

"Yeah. A little bit." Meredith wore one of Derek's t-shirts which was long and oversized on her small frame and was wrapped up in a heavy blanket Derek had brought. "If my hair wasn't so wet, I'd probably be a little warmer."

"Well it smells nice," Derek commented, giving her a smile.

"Fire's nice and warm. What'd you do? Rub two sticks together or something?"

"No, I had to do it the hard way. I used a lighter."

Meredith laughed.

"You know, I have another way to keep you warm."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mmm-hmm." Derek placed his hand on her chin, slowly bringing her mouth to his and kissed her softly. "But first, I have a very important question to ask you."

Meredith smiled. "Okay…"

"How do you like your marshmallows?"

"Huh?"

Derek smiled, pulling out a bag of jumbo marshmallows from behind him. "Marshmallows. How do you like yours? Lightly toasted or burnt and gooey in the middle?"

"Burnt and gooey in the middle."

"Good. That was the right answer. That's how I like them too." Derek handed Meredith a skewer and opened up the bag of marshmallows.

"Roasted marshmallows. Oh my god, I think it's been forever since I've had these."

"Well you can't go camping and have a campfire and not roast marshmallows. It's like a rule."

Meredith watched Derek as he placed a marshmallow on his skewer and moved it around in the fire. He pulled it back and quickly blew the flame out. The outer skin of the marshmallow was black and burnt to a crisp.

"Look at that. Isn't that just beautiful?"

"Mmm-hmm. But you know what goes really good with roasted marshmallows?" She said as she bit a marshmallow in half and licked the stickiness from her finger.

"What's that?"

"Sex."

Derek laughed. "I couldn't agree more."

"Good, because I'm pretty chilly here and I'm waiting to find out how else you plan to warm me up."

Derek gently laid her down on the blanket, covering her mouth with his. As his hands roamed up and down the length of her body, he was surprised to realize that underneath his shirt that she wore, she was wearing nothing else at all.

Meredith caught the look in his eyes and gave him a smile. "Oh yeah, I seem to have lost my panties again. I have a bad habit of doing that."

"It's okay. I don't think you'll be needing them much tonight anyway."

Meredith laughed as Derek suddenly rolled her over, switching positions with her. "I don't think you'll need this either," he said, referring to the shirt. "Although I do have to admit that you look incredibly sexy wearing my clothes."

She gave him a smile as she raised the shirt over her head and tossed it to the ground. "I think you look incredibly sexy with no clothes." Meredith leaned down, kissing him again as her hands worked his zipper down…

xoxoxo

Sometime later, Derek and Meredith made their way into the tent.

"Cozy," Meredith said with a laugh as Derek laid her down on the sleeping bag.

"You know what?"

"What?"

"This is the first time I've had a woman in my sleeping bag. And it's really turning me on."

"Ooo, lucky me."

Derek closed the distance between them, kissing her mouth, then moving on to that spot on her neck.

"Derek…" Meredith whispered.

Derek reached for her hands, lacing his fingers with hers as he continued kissing her.

"Derek…I heard a noise."

"It was probably just a raccoon," he whispered.

Meredith closed her eyes, figuring maybe Derek was right. Some animal. Maybe a raccoon. Maybe a squirrel eating all their food in the tree. No, it sounded too big to be a raccoon or a squirrel.

"Derek, I heard it again."

"The woods are full of all kinds of noises." He kissed her again, hoping it would distract her enough to stop worrying about what was going on outside.

"No, it was a strange noise. Like a rustling sound. You didn't hear it?"

"I'm sure it was nothing, Mer."

Suddenly, a loud crash was heard outside their tent.

"Well I heard that," Derek said, alert now that there was definitely something out there. He opened the tent to take a peak outside.

"Derek?"

"Shh."

"Derek, what is it?"

Derek turned around and looked at Meredith. "I need you to listen to me. Stay calm, and do not panic."

"Derek, when people say to stay calm and do not panic, it's usually because there's a reason to panic!"

"It's a bear."

"A _bear!?"_

"Shh! Not so loud!"

"A bear?"

"It's just a little one."

Meredith sat up and moved over to get a glimpse. Sure enough, there was a bear. He appeared to be rummaging through their things. "I thought you said you put all of the food up. Up in the _bear bag_ or whatever…"

"I did! He must have found something else…or he's looking for something. Not laughing so much at the bear bag now, are you?"

"Derek, what do we do?"

"He's not a large bear, but he's still a bear. I think the best thing for us to do is to just stay out of sight, stay quiet."

"Can't you scare him off?"

"He's a wild animal, Meredith. What am I going to do? Go after him with my axe?"

"Oh. Well no, I suppose not. Do you think he'll go away soon?"

"He might. Let's just wait and see."

Derek watched the bear, noticing that there was something that had caught his interest. "What the…"

"What? What is it?"

"He's gotten into something. I can't quite make out what it is. It's dark."

Meredith squinted her eyes, trying to get a better view. It was dark, but there was just enough moonlight for her to detect some sort of bag in his claws. "Oh no." Meredith realized what it was.

"What?"

"Izzie's snacks! He found the bag with Izzie's snacks in it."

"What?! You had food and didn't tell me? Meredith! Why the hell didn't you bring it to me? I told you all food had to be out of the way!"

"You said you had taken care of it! I _assumed_ you would have realized I had snacks in that bag considering the fact that you _ate_ most of it on the drive here!"

"Well there was still enough food in there to attract a _bear_!"

"Shh! Look! He's going!"

Derek turned around just in time to see the bear disappearing behind the bushes and leaving their campsite.

"Do you think he'll come back?" Meredith whispered.

"No, probably not. But just to make sure, I'm going to go take a quick look around, make sure there's nothing else laying around that will attract anymore wildlife. Stay here."

Meredith nodded, watching as Derek grabbed a flashlight and crawled out of the tent to investigate.

He was only gone for a few minutes. When he came back, he held the shredded remains of the bag.

Meredith's eyes grew wide. "Oh my god, Izzie's going to kill me!"

"Why?"

"That was actually her bag."

Derek held up the shredded bag, and he and Meredith couldn't help but laugh.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Dearest readers…so sorry it's been FOREVER since my last update! I just haven't had a lot of time to write lately, and when I have had time to write, the inspiration just wasn't there. Hopefully it won't be too long of a wait until my next chapter. Thanks for the reviews, and thanks for reading!

**Chapter 4**

_Saturday AM_

Meredith watched him from a distance away. He was sitting at the edge of the dock. Meredith slowly walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him.

"Morning," she whispered into his ear.

"Morning." Derek turned around to face her and gave her a kiss.

"What are you doing out here? I woke up and you were gone."

"I'm sorry. I couldn't sleep. Just so used to waking up early."

"Liar. It was my snoring, wasn't it? Was I snoring?"

"Um…yeah, a little bit. Left the ear plugs at home."

Meredith couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry." Meredith took a seat beside him, letting her feet dangle above the water. "It's so beautiful out here."

"Yeah, and it's quiet."

"Except for last night with the bear."

"He wasn't the only one making a racquet. You were really loud too. And I don't mean the snoring," Derek said with a wink.

Meredith elbowed him. "You were loud too."

"Not as loud as you. Hey, I'm just saying…"

"Fine. I'm loud during sex."

"Oh I wasn't complaining. I love it when you're loud during sex." Derek gave her one of his smiles.

"So is that why you took me camping? So we could just have sex all weekend and be as loud as we want?"

Derek grinned. "Maybe."

Meredith laughed softly as he leaned forward and kissed her again.

"Well…hold that thought," she said, pulling away. "We'll do that later. But first…I'm starving." Meredith stood up and started back towards the campsite.

Derek stood up and followed her. "You know, as shocking as it might sound, there is something that I thought we could do this morning, and it actually doesn't involve sex."

Meredith turned around and smiled. "Oh really? And what would that be?"

xoxoxo

"Jogging?" Meredith gasped as she tried to keep up with Derek. "Your idea was to go jogging?"

"You seemed to like the idea twenty minutes ago."

"Yeah, I could breathe twenty minutes ago."

Derek stopped and waited for Meredith who paused for a moment to catch her breath.

"It's been a while since you went for a jog, hasn't it?"

"I'm going to kill you," she muttered.

Derek laughed. "You'll be fine. Come on, we'll go sit on that bench for a minute."

Meredith groaned loudly as she collapsed on the bench.

"You want me to carry you back to the campsite?" Derek teased.

"Shut up," Meredith said, laughing.

"So other than this particular moment, are you having a good time?"

Meredith smiled. "Yes. It's been really fun. I like camping with you." Meredith scratched a bug bite on her neck. "I could do without the mosquitoes though."

"You know you're the first woman whose ever gone camping with me?"

"Yeah, I kind of figured I was. Can't really imagine Addison hiking through the woods in those 5-inch heel Pradas."

Derek laughed. "Wonder how things are going at work. Think they miss us?"

"Not really. When someone says to you on a daily basis 'get a room', that usually means they wish you would go someplace else for a while."

"True."

"So…other than jogging…what else did you want to do today?"

Derek gave her a big grin.

"Besides sex," she added.

"We could go fishing."

Meredith smiled. "You and your trout."

"And we could go hiking."

"That would sound like fun if we hadn't just spent twenty minutes jogging. I think my leg muscles need a break."

"Well we could rent a boat. We could go canoeing."

"As long as you do the paddling," Meredith said.

"We could roast marshmallows over the fire again."

"I like the sound of that."

"You ready to head back?"

"Yeah. I think so."

"Alright." Derek stood up, ready to get back to jogging.

"Slow jogging this time," Meredith begged. "This isn't a race."

Derek smiled. "Oh really? Well that's too bad. Because I was going to say last one back to camp has to do whatever the winner wants. Sexually, of course. And I was going to give you a head start, but that's fine. We don't have to race."

She quickly changed her mind. "A race? Oh it's _on_!"

Meredith took off running, always one for a little competition. But Derek was just too fast and quickly passed her.

"Hey! I thought you said you would give me a head start!"

"Yeah! It was a two second head-start!" he said, laughing.

"Derek! I'm going to….oww!"

"Meredith?" Derek stopped in his tracks and looked behind him. Meredith had took a spill and was on the ground.

"Oww…"

Derek began to laugh. "Oh no, I'm not falling for that. That's like the oldest trick in the book. You pretend like you're hurt and then as soon as I let my guard down, you take off."

When Meredith completely ignored him, Derek knew it was no joke.

"Oh god, you're really hurt, aren't you?" He rushed over to Meredith. "Where does it hurt?"

Meredith rubbed her ankle, wincing in pain. "My ankle. I twisted it. Tripped over that stupid tree root."

Derek touched her ankle. "Does it hurt when I do this?"

"Oww. Yeah, a little."

"Okay, let's get you back to camp. Looks like I'm going to be carrying you after all."

"No, I'll be fine. Just help me up."

Derek took her hand and helped Meredith to her feet.

"Well?"

"It's fine…" Meredith said, tapping her foot to the ground very lightly. But clearly, Meredith was lying.

"No, it's not. Come on, I'm carrying you. Climb on."

Meredith reluctantly agreed, climbing on Derek's back as he carried her back to the campsite.

xoxoxo

"I really think my ankle is fine," Meredith insisted as he placed her into a chair.

"Does it hurt to walk on it?"

"A little."

"Then it's not fine." Derek rummaged around in the first aid kit and found the ice pack. "Here, put this on it."

"Always prepared, huh?"

"Let me look at it. Could be sprained."

"It's not sprained. Look, it's not even swollen. Just hurts a little."

Derek held Meredith's foot in his hand and examined her ankle up close. "Well it doesn't looked sprained. Maybe you did just bruise it. But we should keep an eye on it. And you should probably stay off it for a while. Keep the ice on it."

"You know I'm a doctor too, right?"

Derek gave her a stern look. "Just take it easy."

"Okay, fine, Dr. Shepherd. So no more jogging, huh?"

"I don't think so."

"No hiking?"

"Afraid not."

"So I have to just sit here and do nothing?"

"Until the pain stops, yeah."

"How boring."

"You'll survive. I'm sure you'll find something to do. Something that keeps you off your feet." Derek grinned at her.

Meredith smiled. "I knew those Sudoku puzzles Cristina gave me would come in handy."

Derek gave her a look.

"Did you bring crossword puzzles?"

"I have a better idea."

"Word search puzzles?" Meredith teased.

"Sex," he mouthed.

Meredith laughed. "Oh I don't think so."

Derek's smile quickly turned to a frown. "What? Why not?"

"Because I think you need to go wash up first. You're all sweaty."

"I thought you liked it when I was all sweaty and hot?" he teased. "I thought you said it turned you on."

"Only when you're chopping wood and not wearing a shirt. Now you're just sweaty and ick."

Derek gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Okay. I'll go wash up."

"That would be nice."

Derek reached into the cooler and got out a bottle of water for her. "Drink this. I don't want you to get dehydrated."

"Yes, doctor."

"And keep that ice on your ankle."

"Derek…"

"Fine…I'm going now."

"Oh wait!"

"What is it?"

"Aren't you going to bring me my Sudoko puzzles?"

"Where are they?"

"In my bag. And my pencil too."

Derek found the puzzles and a pencil in her bag and handed them to her.

"Thank you."

"Anything else?"

"No. I'm good."

"Alright, I'm going to wash up. And when I get back, I'm going to check on that ankle."

Meredith nodded. "Okay."

"And then after that…there's going to be some sex."

"Derek!" Meredith laughed.

"I'm going." Derek grabbed a towel out of his bag and gave her a smile as he walked away.


End file.
